Jeroboams Education is a new series on our blog providing you with the lowdown on the most iconic wine producing regions of the world. Led by our super buying team, Peter Mitchell MW and Maggie MacPherson will introduce you to the key facts and a little history of all the regions you recognise but perhaps don’t know too well. To help really further your education, why not drink along? Browse our White Burgundy selection.

Introduction

Unlike its red sibling, white burgundy has more genuine equals in the world of wine, with Chardonnay a more malleable variety to different terroirs than Pinot Noir is. This does not stop the wines from the region, at least from its more famous villages, selling for high prices.  At its pinnacle, it still produces the most compelling examples of the grape and in Chablis, has a style that is almost unique in the world, managing the tightrope of being just ripe yet with a certain sumptuous weight at the core. Around 60% of Burgundy’s output is white wine, strongly influenced by the relatively large quantities made in the Maconnais.  Although white wine is made in the Côte de Nuits, which can be very good, it is very much a curiosity and not of commercial significance.

The greatest and most famous wines all come from the Côte de Beaune, whilst the lion’s share of volume comes from further south. Within  Burgundy, there are small plantings of both Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris (known here as Pinot Beurot), which can be blended with Chardonnay subject to local regulations and more significant plantings of Aligoté (with over 600 hectares in the Côte d’Or), most notably in the Chalonnais village of Bouzeron, where it has its only village appellation. Most wine made from this variety elsewhere is labelled Bourgogne Aligoté and is very high in acidity, although in warmer years its ripe apple fruit can achieve a nice balance with the acidity and it shows some affinity to oak.

History

Wine has almost certainly been made here since the 1st century AD or earlier and signs of commercial viticulture remain from the 3rd century and the wines were highly regarded by the 6th century. The first vineyard gifts to monasteries were around this time and by the medieval times, the monks were responsible for producing most of the excellent wine. By the 13th century, the monks of Cluny owned all of the vineyard land around Gevrey, as well as the great vineyards of Vosne (including Romanée Conti, Richebourg and La Tâche), whilst not long afterwards the abbey of Citaux owned the Clos de Vougeot and large tracts of Nuits and the Côte de Beaune. With a highly skilled workforce and the time to learn and study, the monks discovered the importance of terroir and began the process of defining the crus we know today. When the Papal court moved to Avignon in the 14th century, the wines became regarded as the best in the world and demand soared and under the dukes of Burgundy wine was the region’s most important export.

Pinot Noir has probably been here much longer, but is first mentioned in the 1370s, with Gamay also present (and regarded lowly) at the same time. The fall of the dukedom and rise of the power of France saw the vineyards slowly taken from the church and sold to powerful local merchants and the first négocients were founded in the 1720s. The revolution saw the lands confiscated from the church and the nobility and sold in small pieces to multiple owners. The Napoleonic rules of succession meant these were further subdivided with each generation, leading to the fragmented nature of ownership that exists today. The ravages of Phlloxera devastated the region and when the vineyards were replanted, only the best sites saw new vines. 

An informal classification already existed, but it was not until the 1930s that the appellation system was introduced. Virtually all Burgundy was matured and sold by the négocient houses until the 1930s when the first co-operatives started to be formed and the likes of Gouges, d’Angerville and especially Rousseau began to bottle their own wine. By the 1960s, 15% of the wine was domaine bottled and that has risen to around half today. The 1980s saw more prosperity come to the region and a new generation took over at often moribund estates. With greater technical expertise and a more outward view, better and better wines were made and prices began their inexorable rise to where they are today. In 1996, a bottle of Echézeaux from Domaine de la Romanée Conti would cost you £50 retail, now a five year old example of the same wine is £2000.

Whilst the region has thus far largely remained in the ownership of the families who have been here for generations (in stark contrast to Bordeaux) the value of the land and French inheritance taxes possess an existential threat to this.

The White Burgundy Appelations

Premier & Grand Crus of the Côte de Beaune